Information about the delivery of our VCE and VCAL program

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates

This article will be updated regularly to ensure parents/guardians are kept informed of any new advice or changes as matters arise.

Mr Michael Exton Principal

Update 9th April, 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Re: Transition to flexible and remote learning – provision of supervision at the College

As you are aware, following State Government advice, the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) has advised that Catholic schools should move to remote and flexible learning at the commencement of Term 2.

“This means that, from the start of Term 2, all students who can learn from home must learn at home.”

Saint Ignatius College will commence remote and flexible learning for our students on Wednesday, 15th April 2020. (Teachers will begin on Tuesday 14th April.)

While it is expected that all students should be learning from home, schools have been asked to consider making supervision arrangements available at school for students in the following categories:

Children who are not able to be supervised at home and on days when no other arrangements can be made. This includes children of parents who cannot work from home, and vulnerable children, such as:

• children in out-of-home care

• children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm

• children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service, mental health or other health services, and children with a disability).

To assess the need for supervision, we need to know how many students we would need to cater for.

If your daughter or son is in one of the categories mentioned above, and you would like to indicate your interest in her or him being supervised at the College while she or he undertakes the remote and flexible learning, please send an email message by 12 noon Tuesday 14th April 2020 to dpoffice@ignatius.vic.edu.au and provide for each student:

• Student name

• Year Level & Homeroom name

• Days of the week attending school

• Brief reason for the need for supervision at school.

We will then contact you via email to let you know what arrangements can be put in place.

Some preliminary considerations include:

• Commencement of supervision on Thursday 16th April;

• 8:45 am to 3:05 pm;

• Transport to & from school will need to be provided by parents (at the time of writing this message, we have no advice about bus availability);

• No canteen, students to bring their own food & drink bottle;

• Social distancing would be expected as much as possible;

• The student would need to be well;

• Neat casual clothes;

• Supervision would be from a distance while students work using their laptops as if they were at home; and

• Students sign in and out at the front College office.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Exton Principal

Update 7th April, 2020

Dear Parents, Students and Staff Members,

Given this morning’s announcement by the Premier about arrangements for Term Two schooling, the Catholic Education Commission Victoria (CECV) has provided advice that our College will be following from the start of Term 2 2020.

While this preliminary contact is relatively brief, more detailed information will be provided via a second email from me on Thursday 9th April once further consultation has occurred. In this update, I will outline specific advice related to Term 2 curriculum delivery and VCE

arrangements in keeping with today’s advice to Catholic schools.

Term 2 arrangements

On the advice of the Victorian Chief Health Officer, the Catholic Education Commission Victoria (CECV) has advised that all Victorian Catholic schools are required to transition to remote and flexible learning arrangements for Term 2. Given this advice, our students will commence remote learning from Wednesday 15th April. (Teachers and Education Support Officers will commence work for the new term on Tuesday 14th April.)

The Chief Health Officer has advised that these arrangements should remain in place for the duration of Term 2 and will then be reviewed.

Given the government objective act to slow the spread of coronavirus, schools have been asked to communicate to students and parents that all children who can learn at home must learn from home.

Schools are able to make exceptions for children of parents who cannot work from home, and vulnerable children.

Parents will be informed via email on Thursday 9th April about how they can access this supervision at our College and what arrangements we will put in place for this.

VCE update

The Victorian Premier and Minister for Education have also announced the following changes to VCE studies.

VCE students will still receive an ATAR, but there will be a number of adjustments to the academic timetable for VCE and VCAL students:

• The GAT will move from June to October or November
• End-of-year exams will be postponed until at least December
• School-based assessment tasks will be reduced where possible to relieve some pressure on students as they move to remote and flexible learning arrangements
• Universities will be asked to delay the start of the 2021 university year to account for the impact of coronavirus on senior secondary students.

VCE study scores will continue to be a combination of school-based assessment and external exams.

VCAL students will have more time to complete their courses and this will be consistent with the revised dates for the VCE.

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) is also examining a compressed end-of-year exam schedule – including slightly shortening each exam – in recognition of the disruption caused by the pandemic.

A small number of students undertaking VET may have the award of their VCE or VCAL delayed until the beginning of 2021, so that they can complete mandatory practical or workplace learning requirements – ensuring they are not disadvantaged by the lack of hands-on practice.

Making this transition to remote learning and teaching is understandably going to be challenging for us all. Continuity of learning is vitally important. We have been planning for this transition and are well-prepared. There is, however, still a great deal that we are going to learn over the coming weeks as we, along with other schools, implement remote learning & teaching.

Thank you in anticipation of your support for and understanding of, the need to move to remote learning and teaching. It is important that we work together in partnership to maintain learning for our students under these tough and trying times for all in our community whilst also ensuring the health and safety of all members of our school and the wider community. We look forward to the time when school resumes on campus but until that is possible, please be assured that we will do all we can to support our school objective to work together to maintain our students’ ability to learn in changed circumstances.

In closing, I reiterate that we will provide families with important information this Thursday to further support the transition to learning from home.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Exton Principal

Update 6th April 2020

Update 2nd April 2020

Update 23rd March 2020

PDFs and website links noted in the above letter:

- Australian Psychological Society information

- World Health Organization (WHO)

Mental health and wellbeing support and advice for students and parents:

Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/topics/mental-health-and-wellbeing-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak
Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/looking-after-your-mental-health-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

Support specifically for students:

- Headspace fact sheet

- Kids Helpline support: https://kidshelpline.com.au/coronavirus#wellbeing

Update 23rd March 2020

Update: March 18th 2020